Japan steps up support for Europe, buys EFSF bills

By IBT Staff Reporter On 01/17/12 AT 11:05 AM

Japan is extending the support to debt-hit euro area, where it offered support by buying the bills auctioned by the European Financial Stability Facility, where in general it is a sign of global confidence that Europe can pull it through even if S&P took the rating down one notch from AAA to AA+.

A finance ministry spokesman said that Japan has bought 120 million euros of the new six-month bills auctioned by the EFSF today on Tuesday, where it accounts for 8.0% of the total alloted 1.5 billion euros at the auction today of the tendered 4.66 billion euros.

Japan still sees that the bills from the EFSF are a major attractive investment and likely will continue to be a buyer of EFSF bills at the coming auctions despite the downgrade. Of the total auctioned 22.5 billion euros by the fund Japan bought 3.655 billion euros of bills.